Like a lot of action movie fans who grew up in the 80s, I love the original Predator. It made my 45th birthday’s Top 45 list, and when my nephew came for a week’s visit, I made sure he saw it. So, why have so many of the sequels been so at best mediocre? I haven’t seen the one with Adrien Brody or the second of the two meet-ups with the xenomorph from the Aliens movies, but Predator 2 proved Danny Glover, as reliable as he is in movies, isn’t really a good substitute for Arnold Schwarzenegger, and while I did largely dig Shane Black’s sequel, it is nowhere near the level of the original and feels largely like a retread.
But now Hulu has a new installment in the series, a prequel set 300 years in the past. Titled Prey, if modern commandos have trouble with one of these things, what can Comanche hunters do?
It’s 1719, and Naru (Amber Midthunder) wants to be a hunter like her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers). She’s been trained as a healer and she’s actually an excellent tracker, but she also seems to be a little unsure of herself when she’s in a tight pinch. Taabe seems to believe in her, and she does have a loyal dog, but everyone else is another story. With a manhunting mountain lion on the prowl, Naru accompanies the otherwise all-male hunting party, but she keeps seeing things. What may be a shooting star shoots through the sky, and Naru keeps finding hints that there’s something else out there. Whatever it is seems to be very large, bipedal creature of unknown origin. Most of the party assumes it’s a bear. Naru seems to know better. Too many clues suggest otherwise.
She’s right. It’s another Predator (Dane DiLiegro), but this one’s equipment is, while more advanced than anything on Earth, not quite as technologically advanced as the ones from other movies. He’s doing what his kind always do: hunting what he sees as dangerous prey, and he’s moving up the food chain from the looks of things. He also seems to be inclined to give his prey something of a fight, but never to the point where he doesn’t still have a clear advantage. Naru is convinced he’s out there, and he’s not the only threat in the wilderness. Can she find the courage to defeat the alien?
This one was a breath of fresh air for the Predator franchise. It’s creative in ways the series hasn’t been in a long time. This Predator has a distinctive set of methods. He’s not doing lightning fast attacks on his targets and disappearing back into the forest. He draws fights out, and he takes a lot of punishment from just about everything he faces off with. And while he doesn’t talk, he does leave behind enough clues for Naru to basically figure out his whole deal while offering one of the movie’s many contrasts on why anyone hunts. The Comanche hunt as part of their way of life to provide food and fur. Some French fur trappers just want the pelts. And the Predator? He wants trophies.
But the real star here, as suggested by the title, is Midthunder’s Naru. The young actress makes for a good lead, and the movie shows the character is smart, innovative, and vulnerable when she has to be. She’s not an unstoppable killing machine. She has a storyarc that suggests she has to find her way, and whether other characters have a problem with her perhaps out of sexism or just because she isn’t really a hunter nor was trained to be, she does understand how to survive, something that will give her an edge when everyone, including the Predator, underestimates her. Once she goes out looking for the alien, the movie is basically a roller coaster ride until the closing credits roll, and it helps that the movie put an interesting character in the lead role.
Grade: A-
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